Travel Postcard: London for the Jubilee

June 01, 2012|Reuters

(SUZANNE PLUNKETT, REUTERS)

LONDON (Reuters) - Got an extra long weekend to explore the British capital where Queen Elizabeth II will be celebrating her 60th year on the throne with a massive Diamond Jubilee party? Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors explore London amid the royal hoopla.

Friday

6 p.m. You'd better arrive at least a day or two ahead of the main festivities. Many people will get to London even earlier and will already be staking out places for Sunday's 1,000-boat flotilla along the Thames, Monday's pop concert outside Buckingham Palace and Tuesday's royal procession along the Mall. For a full official guide look on: http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/

Why not familiarize yourself with some of the local culture and go for a pint first. Friday night before a national holiday means the pubs will be buzzing.

Ditch the ubiquitous lager dens dotted around the capital in favor of a visit to the 2010 "pub of the year" as chosen byBritain's Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The Harp in Chandos Place lies in the shadow of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, near Covent Garden shopping, dining, Leicester Square, the theatre district and the pubs and clubs of Soho.

8 p.m. Dine with the ruling class at Rules restaurant (www.rules.co.uk) in Covent Garden. It's old, it's grand, the food is traditional English and it's a popular dining spot for the privately educated elite. This gastronomic institution has been reviewed by Kingsley Amis, defended byJohn Betjeman, immortalized by Graham Greene and frequented by Edward VII and his lover Lillie Langtry.

Top up at the bar with a pre-dinner drink from the Royal Collection Cocktails menu: One recipe for every one of the 16 countries where Queen Elizabeth is head of state.

10 p.m.

Throw some regal shapes at one of the clubs favored by the young royals. Cut loose at Whisky Mist (www.whiskymist.com), get your Middleton mojo on at Mahiki (www.mahiki.com) or shake your aristocratic booty at Boujis (www.boujis.com) until the wee hours. Plenty of Sloane Rangers and Hooray Henrys to choose from here. But remember: keen royal watchers are already standing five deep at the barricades.

Saturday

Unless you have tickets for the Epsom Derby, where Queen Elizabeth will kick off jubilee celebrations by indulging in her passion for horse-racing, today is the best of two days to get your sightseeing in before the pageantry of the coming days.

9 a.m. Head to the Tower of London (www.hrp.org.uk). Founded by William the Conqueror after his 1066 invasion of England, the Tower, with its strategic location on the River Thames, has been a royal palace, a place of execution, a prison for traitors and still holds Britain's Crown jewels.

12 p.m. Cross over Tower Bridge, turn left and go for lunch at one of the many restaurants on the South Bank. For top dining try Le Pont de la Tour which overlooks the Thames, or the slightly less formal dining at the Chop House and Blueprint Cafe. They are all found at one website (www.lepontdelatour.co.uk/)

1 p.m. Head back toward Tower Bridge and keep walking past it. Here are the Mayor's round and gleaming glass and steel offices. There is a broad walkway beside the Thames that is popular with both locals and tourists.

As you stroll along you'll pass the Clink museum (www.clink.co.uk), Vinopolis (www.vinopolis.co.uk) -- a wine-lovers' emporium of all beverages related to the grape -- a replica of Francis Drake's globe-circumnavigating ship the Golden Hinde (www.goldenhinde.com), and a lovely bankside pub called the Anchor Bankside before arriving at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (www.shakespearesglobe.com).

The thatch-roofed, oak-beamed Globe is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse designed in 1599 and a unique international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare's work and the playhouse for which he wrote.

Take in nearby Tate Modern Museum (www.tate.org/modern/), housed in an imposing converted power station. Further along the river you can go for a ride on the giant London Eye (www.londoneye.com) Ferris wheel or cross the Millennium footbridge just opposite the Tate for a visit to Christopher Wren's magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral (www.stpauls.co.uk), where Charles and Diana weremarried.

If you'd like to recreate last year's royal wedding of Prince William toKate Middleton - now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - wander a bit further on and cross over Westminster Bridge for a visit to Westminster Abbey (www.westminster-abbey.org).

Here is also where England's monarchs are crowned and many put to eternal rest alongside the graves of the unknown warrior,Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Frederic Handel and Laurence Olivier.

Sunday

7 a.m Get up! Get out! If you want to catch even a glimpse of the royal flotilla as it passes through London on the River Thames, you'd better make your way to a viewing spot soon alongside a million expected spectators.